Expansion rail-joint.



C. H. CLARK, E. W. JANSEN & C. F. GAILOR.

EXPANSIUN RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION man ma. 23. 19u.

1,301,104. Patented Apr. 22, 1919.

SHEETS-SHEET l.

Wl TNESSES l/VVE/VTOHS A TTUR/VEYS Patented rApr. 22, 1919.

c. H. CLARK. E. w. JANSEN@ c. F. amm. EXPANSION RAIL JDINT. APPLICATIONFILED FEB. 23.19H

mi muws uns m, hmmm nu C. H. CLARK, E. W. JANSEN 6a C. F. GAILOR.

EXPANSION HAIL JOINT. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23. ISI?.

Patented Apr. 22, i919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE'.

CHARLES H. CLARK, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO,

AND EDWARD WALTER JANSEN, OF NEW YORK, AND CHESTER F. GAILOR, 0FBROOKLYN, NEW YORK; ASSIGNORS TO ATLAN- TIC WELDING GORPORATION, 0F

NEW YORK, N. Y.,.A CORPORATION'OF NEW YORK.

EXPANSION RAIL-JOINT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 22, 1919.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that we, CHAfnLns H. CLARK, EDWARDVVAL'mR JANS-EN, and CHESTER F. GAILon, all citizens ofthe UnitedStates, and` residents, respectively, of Cleveland, Cuyahoga county,State of Chio, of New York, in the county and State of New York, and ofBrooklyn, Kings county, city and" State of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Expansion Rail- Joints, of whichthe following is a specification.

Our invention relates to expansion rail joints for railway track systemsandlparticularly to such joints when applied to a track system as usedin electric railway servi ice or where the track must be used as anelectrical conductor in av signaling system. Under such conditions it isnecessary, or at least very desirable, that the electrical conductivityof the joint shallapproximate, as nearly as possible, the conductivityof the track itself.

Our ilnproved joint can not only be given the requisite electricalconductivity, as above specified, but is also so constructed that therails which are connected by the joint are always rigidly held inalinement and Iyet` may freely expand or contract onV account oftemperature cha ges without affecting said conductivity.

In modern track constructionfor electrical railways it has ybecome aquite usual procedure" to connect the individual rails together, sofasto-fcrm a'continuous'leligth, by means of welding. i In thus uniting'the' rail ends the welds maybe butt Welds, or lish plates may be weldedto the sides of both railend's, or bothy Hsh lates andbutt welds maybeusedat oneanrl) the same time.

When welded joints as just describedv are employed, breaks, duel toYvarious reasons more or'less well understood by thosevslrilled` in theart, "arefound to' frequently occur. Regardless `ofl the locationof-such breaks, a repair is always costly inasmuch as'rai-lportionsadjacent to the break must :be accu rately cut away andV a shortf lengthcfinew rail section cut in to take its place. Excavation and repavingalso add their incre-4 ment of cost.

It is the object of our invention herein distively,

`of Fig. l; Figs. 5' spending respectively tofther` in Figs. 2 and 3 buttakenfftlnrcngh-:armodil` fied form rof joint asconstructed in eonnec-95 i transverse sections takenf become excessive, anyrupture 'willi fbefcon- 65 fined to'a part Whichcan beflreadilyquickfly and cheaplyreplaced'withoutcuttmgof th rail proper.

Broadly speaking our improved jointcomrises two abutting rail" ends'"held togethervo y fish plates eac-h of which is welded to one rail butnot to thefoth'erandfbth of'whicli are so disposed' with-referencetoftherail ends that, While the yrailsfare always held in`rigid alinement, linearly with re'ferenceto` theish plate lto Whoseend'` it is not welded; with this `arrangement is provided a bond' orother equivalent means for obtainingand' maintaining goodelectricalconductivity 'betweenV 80 the free endof a fish: plateandithefadjacentrailendA to whichT it is notccnn'ictbd;V

Our invention wilbbe `hotter understood by -referrin .totheiaccompanyingdrawings, in which view of a preferred constructionvfstheijoint4 as applied' to a= Vpair. (of rail 'ends vof* conventionalT section; 'Figsfs and'mregcrespec- 'transverse sections takeni along;the lines 2--2 and Bderof Fig horizontal section: taken F alongfthev'line .4f-4

and 6 :are seeticnsfcorresections'shoiwn tion With rails oftherusnal-fgilklen type; 7 is al perspective :viewi showing amodn formofV the! inventiony asV applied Vto T rails, and1 Figs.I 8i and* 9;anevrespeetively" l specti-ve V'view4 "ofi another frnodiiicaticn 'ofthe ei older types of maintainingthe electrical each rail is free`tofslide f igure 1l''represents1- a* :perspective 8'5 alongw fthe;lihesmlOO verse sections taken alon the lines 11-11 and 12.--12` of"Fig, 10; ig. 13 is a perslmciiifh vieu' of'stlll another modified formci' our joint, as applied to T rails, and Figs. 14 and 15 are'respectively transverse sec* tions taken along the lines 14-14- and1.5-15 of Fig. 13; Fi 16 is a perspective view of another n'lodi ledform of joint according to our invention, as applied to T rails, andFigs. 17 and 1 8 are resiectively transverse sections taken along tielines 17-17 and 18-18 of Fig. 1G; Fig. 19 is a perspective view of stillanother form of the joint of our invention, as applied to T rails, andFigs. 20 and 21 are respectively transverse sections taken along thelines 20-20 and 21--21 of`Fig. 19.

Referring to the drawings (Figs. 1-3) 1 and 2 represent adjacent abuttedends of T rails, while 3 and 4 represent a pair of laterally disposedflanged fish plates of usual construction. These plates extend the fulldistance from the rail head to the rail base and are welded along theirupper and lower edges, one end of one plate to the under side of thehead and upper side of the base belonging to one rail end only and theother plate to the corresponding surfaces of the other rail end only.'

Bolts 5 pass through the ends of opposite plates and through theintervening rail web and are welded fastat each of their ends to saidplates. These bolts should, as is usuallyy thecase, be chosensubstantially smaller in diameter than the hole 6 in the track webthrough which they must pass.

In constructing the joint just described, the rail ends are in contact,of course, when the joint is made. As the newly constructed joint cools,contraction will take place and rail end 2 with the attached fish plate3 will move to the right whiie rail end 1 with its attached fish late 4will move to the left. Owing to t e fact that the holes in the track webare a `little larger than the bolts connectin the plates and passingthrough said ho es, fthese bolts will merely bebentfho'rizontally"through a small angle. If the contractinis notIexcessive, so that the'fa le;of bending remains within the elastic iniit:of 'the material of the bolt, no

breakage ,will takeplace and, when eXpansionfagain takes `place underthe influence ofthe: riselof temperature, the bolts will againstraighten out. I l

' It will be iioted'that4 the above described joint? providesfacontinuous metallic connection rornone rail to the next without passingover yany intervening contact surfaces. The bolts ,belonging toene trackend must,

" 'fforthe purpose of electrical conductivity, be

considered as arranged in parallel with one another; by increasing thenumber of bolts, theconductivity'rnay, of course, be proportionatelyincreased;

It will be also noticed, in the above construction, that the greater thecontraction the more firmly the plates 3 and 4 will be drawn togetherand against the intervening rail web. This is due to the bending of thebolt and the consequent shortening of the distance between the boltheads as projected on a plane perpendicular to the track length.

Should the contraction be excessive any breakage which may take placewill necessarily take place at the weakest point, viz., at the bolts.These being cheap and easily gotten at may be cheaply and easilyreplaced.

In Fi s. 5 and 6 we have showna modified form o our invention. Here itis applied to the usual girder rail employed in embedded construction asin urban street railways. The same arrangement of joint may, however, beequally well applied to the T rail. Here the fish plates 3', 4' are notprovided with flanges and they are also spaced at a substantial distanceaway from the rail web in order to better support and strengthen theoverhanging portions of the head. One end of plate 3 is welded at itstop and bottoni edges to one rail while the other end of plate 4 issimilarly welded to the other rail. The bolts 5 pass through both platesand the intervening rail web. As here shown, the bolts have the usualhalf round head at one end and a thread and nut at the other. To securethe requisite conductivity each nut should here be welded to theadjacent plate and also to the shank of its bolt.

In Figs. 7 8 and 9 there is shown another modification of the invention,differing from the forms shown in Figs. 5 and 6 principally in that therails are of T section and that the plates are flanged plates instead ofunflan ed plates. A further difference is that the olts 52, instead ofextending from outside to outside of opposite places, merely extend fromone side of the rail web to the outer side of the opposite plate. The'bolt heads are welded .fast tothe rail web and to the plate asindicated. This form `of the l ing.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 10 and 12, fianged platesare again used with T rails as in the form shown in Figs. 1 to 3. Boltsare omitted, however, the necessary electrical connection between eachfreeplateend and the rail end to which it is not welded being secured bythe use of a flexible copper bond 7 which is welded, one end to the railand the other end to the plate. In this particular form also a rib 8 iswelded fast to the base of each rail end on that side which vhas no fishplate end welded thereto. This rib is ositioned so as to hold the bottomedge ci) the flanged vstiffness of the jacent rail end.V There is thusno danger of the fish plate being forced outward laterally by reason ofthe strains duel fio-traffic passing over the rals. In practice it isfound that a rib on the base'of the rail is sufficient in thisaformofoonstruction inasmuch as the stiffness of the fish plate Willpre-vent@` its being forced out llateraily alongr a rib may alsebe'- itstop edge. However, formed upon the under side of' the rail head toengage the upper edge of the fish plate, if such arrangement be desired.While bolts are omitted in this last form of the invention, Wenevertheless provide the fish plates with bolt holes and employ boltstemporarily to hold the plates and web together While the plates arebeing Welded fast; The bolts are then removed.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 13 to 15 the arrangement issubstanti,` 1y as shown in Figs. 10 to 12 except that the rib 8 is notused; While the bonds `7 have their ends Welded fast to the oppositebolt holes of the two fish plates, the bond passing through the railweb. Here the diameter of the bond will usually be very much less thanthe diameter of the hole in the rail web, and inasmuch as the bond isnaturally very flexible and should have a small amount of slack, thejoint will open and shut under temperature changes very freely. Herereliance upon the plates not springing is dependent upon the intrinsicplates.

The modification shown in Figs. 16 to 1S is similar to that shown inFigs. 13 to 15 except that the fish plates are spaced from the web, asin Figs. 7 to 9, While the flexible copper bonds 72 merely extend fromfish plate to rail Web.

In the form shown in Figs. 19 to 21 the rail is of the usual T sectionand the sh plates of the fianged type as in Figs. 1 to 3. The essentialcharacteristic of this form, as compared with the previous formsdescribed, is the fact that similar ends of both plates are Welded alongtheir top and bottom edges to corresponding surfaces of one and the samerail end While the edges of the other ends of both plates are free efthe other rail end- As expansion and contraction takes place, therefore.both fish plates move with one rail end and are unaffected by the1novement of the other rail end. The requisite electrical conductivitybetween the free rail ends and the free ends of the fish plates isobtained by Welding a bond or bonds be- -tween the free ends of the fishplates and an adjacent point or points on the free rail end.

lVherever, in describing the several forms of our invention above, Wehave referred to a particular type of rail section, any other usual typeof rail section could be substituted therefor Within the scope of theinvenfish plate snugly in position against thead#A '-totiiose skilled inthe art.

Where We have used the term bolt or bolts in this text, We have used itin the generic sense as meaning any fastening device of the pin typeadapted to have its ends expanded in any preferred way to serve asclamping members. The pins may, therefore, be upset at one or both ends,as in riveting, or nuts or the equivalent may be used at one or bothends. Usually the particular kind of bolt employed will be merely amatter of individual judgment.

Joints, according to our invention, may be installed between each andevery pair of rails or at determined distances along the track, theintervening joint-s being plain Welded non-expanding joints of anypreferred construction.

It is obvious. of course, that copper bonds and bonds in the form ofbolts may be used simultaneously in many forms of joints Within thescope of our invention and to advantage. In such case should the boltsrupture, under excessive strain, there would not be any serious decreaseof conductivity. Furthermore, if the bolts are not welded fast to theparts replacements would be exceedin 1 eas and inexpensive.

1lfyhile fille various modifications shown all employ two fish plates,one on each side of the rails, and while Such is the preferablearrangement, We may omit the fish plate on one side of the joint in somecases. Where rails are used only as signaling conductors this one plateis specially applicable.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. An expansion rail joint comprising a pair of alined rail ends, fishplates on opposite sides of said rail ends each plate having one endWelded to one rail end and the other end slidably engaging the otherrail end and a bolt passing through the Web of the rail and having oneend c-ontinuous metallically with the free end of a plate and the otherend completing metallic connection to the juxtaposed rail end.

An expansion rail joint comprising a pair of alined rail ends, fishplates on opposite sides of said rail ends each plate having one endWelded to one rail end and the other end slidably engaging the otherrail end and a bolt passing through the web of the rail and having oneend Welded to the free end of one plate and the other end Welded to anend of the other plate.

3. An expansion rail joint comprising a bolts WeldedY to similar ends ofdifferent plates and passing through the mi] web.

In` testimony whereof We have hereunto 10 set our hands. CHARLES H.CLARK. Y EDWARD WALTER JANSEN. Y CHESTER F. GAILOR.

pair of alined rail ends, sh piates on opposite sides of said rail endsone plate having one end Welfed to one rail end and its other endslidabiy engzcged with the other rail end while the second `plate hasone end welded to the last nai-med rail and its other end slidablyengaged with the first named rail and Gopies of this patent may beobtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 6." Y

